Posted on 07/30/2008 5:34:34 PM PDT by Species8472
Clashing visions of justice between Alaska Wildlife Troopers and elders from the Inupiat Eskimo village of Point Hope threaten to stall progress in finding hunters responsible for massacring 120 caribou on the Arctic tundra this month.
Meat from at least 60 animals was left to rot as still-nursing calves were stranded nearby, and troopers now say village officials are refusing to cooperate as they probe what one investigator called the worst, most blatant case of waste he has ever seen.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
During a meeting with Point Hope village elders July 22, 2008, troopers showed photos of calves trying to suckle from their dead mothers. The killings took place July 4-8 -- during the open hunting season when residents are allowed five caribou per day.
I thought that the ‘natives’ were in tune with their environment? That they didn’t waste anything at all. They even made tools out of the antlers.
Could I have been lied to?
Five caribou per day? How long is the hunting season?
In this case, way too long!
Was alcohol involved?
These are just the ones where they missed the traditional shot to cripple, not kill. The idea is to break a leg so that they can drive the crippled animal where they want it instead of having to haul the meat there themselves. It is the traditional way.
Natives have always viewed the animals that live near them as a resource. The easiest way to get the meat is the best way. The whole “noble savage” myth is exactly that... a myth.
Race is not a part of this equation. Hunter and gatherer people all over the world act the same way.
Nothing wrong with it. It is just the way people act when they have limited options.
The main population of caribou is in Alaska, where the animal numbers about 950,000. That should leave about 949,880.
Yet have just one caribou step in a puddle of oil and you would see it on the front page of the Washington Post!
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